The present invention relates to methods and systems for representing data. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved method and system for collecting information corresponding to a plurality of desired parameters, correlating and interpretation the information in accordance with specified criteria and, thereafter, graphically presenting the information in a specified format.
In today""s fast-paced, dynamic and high-tech business environment, it has become more important than ever to understand the multitude of factors that may effect the performance, operation and/or profitability of a business. Such factors may include, for example, industry trends, consumer habits and behavior, the variance in behavior (e.g, purchasing behavior) between different consumer groups or geographic regions, the effectiveness of a particular marketing tool, and the efficiency of a particular system, subsystem or process, just to name a few. The better a business understands these factors, the more effective it will be in implementing change to optimize its operations and meet consumer demands, expectations and desires. Of course, the ability to understand and document the effectiveness of a particular change (e.g., a price change) is also important for a company to implement the correct changes.
Although the discussion below focuses on Internet businesses and technologies, it is understood that such discussion is exemplary only. Many other types of businesses and technologies such as the shipping industry or telecommunications industry, for example, face similar challenges in understanding the multitude of factors that effect their operation, efficiency and profitability. Thus the discussion provided herein is not intended to limit the field of the invention to only the Internet domain. However, for efficacy purposes, the present invention and some of the problems solved by the invention are described in the context of Internet businesses.
As one example of how technology has impacted the way companies do business, the Internet has revolutionized how businesses operate, perform transactions and provide information to their customers and to other businesses. For example, via the Internet, businesses can use electronic commerce technology to more quickly react to customer needs and perform sales transactions. The proliferation of electronic commerce has enabled businesses to not only attract customers and other businesses, but to engage in transactions with them irrespective of their geographic locations. Through the Internet, a small business can attract and interact with clients anywhere in the world. This same small business can also use the Internet to purchase its supplies or services from other businesses anywhere in the world. Thus, the Internet has enabled a global marketplace.
Unfortunately, the availability of information analysis tools has not kept pace with the proliferation of the Internet. For example, business managers are not able to fully understand how customers enter a web site, navigate the web site, and make a decision to purchase a product or service in the web site. Without this basic understanding, a business manager can only implement change with incomplete information, and typically is unable to efficiently gauge the effectiveness of the change. Further adding to the frustration, many systems and networks that are connected to the Internet are collecting huge quantities of raw data, but there is no facility or tool that easily and efficiently allows the business manager to correlate this vast amount of data and perceive important relationships in the raw data.
To establish a presence on the Internet, a business typically develops a web site for visitors to access. A web site operates on a server, with the server connected into the Internet system. The web site consists of individual pages, or web pages, which can be communicated to a visitor""s computing device, where they are sequentially displayed. For example, when a visitor enters a web site, the web site communicates a xe2x80x9chomexe2x80x9d web page to the visitor. Accordingly, the visitor is presented a display offering general information, such as an index. The visitor then proceeds to navigate the web site by selecting hypertext links which cause the web site server to communicate other pages to the visitor. In such a manner, the visitor is able to navigate through a web site, receiving and viewing selected web pages in a sequential manner.
The web site may be constructed with predefined web pages, or web pages may be dynamically assembled with variable content by the web site server. For example, price and availability information may be extracted from a sales database and inserted into an assembled web page on an as-needed basis. A typical web site may have hundreds or even thousands of web pages which may be selected and viewed by a visitor. A primary goal of many of these web sites is to present the visitor with sufficient information and to entice the user to purchase a good or service. Accordingly, it is desirable that the visitor navigate through the web site in an efficient manner whereby the visitor can obtain information and be presented an opportunity to easily purchase a good or service. In a particularly popular paradigm, a visitor has an electronic xe2x80x9cshopping cartxe2x80x9d in which the visitor can place selected items for purchase. At the conclusion of the web shopping experience, ideally the visitor proceeds to an electronic xe2x80x9ccheckoutxe2x80x9d where the visitor authorizes payment and identifies delivery information. However, due to various reasons, a visitor may place items in a shopping cart and then exit the web site prior to consummating the purchase. Such abandoned shopping carts are of particular interest as these abandoned carts represent a strong consumer interest, although no sale was completed.
To assist the operator of a web site in understanding the effectiveness of the site, several tools currently exist to present basic data about how visitors interact with the web site. For example, tools presently exist that can present how often a particular web page is visited. A graphical representation in the form of a bar chart, for example, can illustrate how many times particular web pages were visited by users. By reviewing the bar chart, the web site operator can obtain a general understanding of the popularity of various web pages. Further, the tool may permit a web operator to view how a particular page was visited over a period of time. For example, the bar chart may indicate that a particular page is very busy early in the morning, but receives less business after normal work hours. Although such graphical information presents a particular view of one aspect of web site utilization, it is not well-suited to simultaneously and comprehensively represent the many dynamic properties of web site utilization information such as, for example, traffic volumes during a specified period of time, visitor demographics, how visitors navigate through the web site, duration of stay at each web page, visitor purchasing information, the correlation between visitor demographic and visitor navigation information, the correlation between visitor purchasing information and visitor navigation information, etc. As one can readily discern, the data contained in this type of information is diverse and voluminous. This type of information which may contain, for example, static and/or dynamic parameters, single or multi-variable parameters, vector data or cluster data (e.g., data representing relationships between objects or entities), as well as other types of data, is referred to herein as xe2x80x9chigh-dimensional information.xe2x80x9d For example, it is especially difficult to represent the characteristics of, and change in, paths and characteristics of paths traversed by visitors to a site, and how such traversals are affected by changes in web site design and promotion. Such xe2x80x9cevent-sequencexe2x80x9d information is critical to analyzing web site effectiveness. Thus far, prior systems and methods have been unable to represent this type of high-dimensional information in a clear, concise and meaningful way.
The ineffectiveness of conventional systems is due in part to the vast amounts of raw data that must be interpreted to understand how visitors interact with a web site. With thousands of users, with varying demographics, originating from thousands of sites and navigating a site in almost infinitely varying sequences, the task of deriving any meaningful information is extremely cumbersome. Adding to the already complex data, a web site may be regularly changed, or may even be generating pages xe2x80x9con the fly.xe2x80x9d Accordingly, the enormous amounts of captured raw data cannot be adequately analyzed and understood with conventional systems. For example, the changes occurring in web sites and navigation patterns happen far too fast for conventional systems to provide meaningful change indicators. Instead, the known systems typically rely on simple two dimensional comparisons, such as bar charts, tables or flow charts, which are not well-suited for comprehensively and simultaneously representing the diverse and dynamic properties of high-dimensional information. Thus far, there has been no system or method which can consolidate and correlate the multitude of high-dimensional properties of, for example, web site utilization information, as described above, and present it in an easily understandable format.
The field of cognitive science reveals that humans are inherently weak at correlating large amounts of data to perceive high dimensional relationships between the data. Prior art methods and systems, which typically utilize static two-dimensional bar charts, tables or flow charts, do not provide a satisfactory solution to this dilemma. To obtain an understanding of high-dimensional information utilizing these prior art systems, users must view several different representations of the data, either simultaneously or sequentially, to correlate the information and discern a desired relationship. This process is tedious and time-consuming and an inefficient utilization of valuable human resources. Additionally, because humans may become overwhelmed by vast quantities of data, many high level relationships remain buried and undiscovered in the raw data. Consequently, these critical high level relationships have not been easily accessible by business managers as a tool for enhancing the effectiveness of their business.
For example, in one scenario, a web site operator wants to evaluate how effectively a web site attracts visitors, presents information to the visitors, and persuades the visitors to buy a product or service. In order to make this evaluation, the web site operator wants to know the following: What types of visitors are coming (e.g., demographics)?; How are the visitors navigating through the web site?; How long are they staying at each web page?; What is the content or subject matter that is attracting visitors?; Do particular types of visitors behave differently then other types of visitors?; What products or services are being purchased by which visitors?; How has a change in a particular web page impacted consumer behavior?; etc., etc. The correlation and conglomeration of data pertaining to each of these exemplary inquiries can provide the web site operator with a good understanding of consumer behavior and web site performance. However, prior methods and systems can only graphically represent data pertaining to a limited number of the queries above in a single graphical display. Thus, in order for a web site operator to obtain a comprehensive understanding of consumer behavior, the web site operator is required to view, simultaneously or sequentially, a multitude of graphical displays or presentations which illustrate the raw data corresponding to each inquiry. In other words, it is up to the web site operator to xe2x80x9cmake sense of it all.xe2x80x9d Therefore, there exists a need for an improved method and system of comprehensively conveying high-dimensional information, such as behavioral information, in a single graphical presentation that is easily understood.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a presentation method and system for efficiently representing high-dimensional information. It is another aspect of the present invention that high-dimensional information be presentable on a single display or graphical presentation. These and other objects are accomplished by the method and system of representing high-dimensional information as disclosed herein.
In one embodiment, the method of representing high-dimensional information collects, organizes, and presents information on how a target interacts with objects. As the target, such as an individual or group, moves between the objects, the method collects navigation data indicative of the target""s path. Relationships are identified in the navigation data, with the relationship data being aggregated to articulate a behavior. Once the behavior has been identified, an indicia indicative of the behavior is selected. As used herein the term indicia refers to any graphical symbol, object or structure and any attributes thereof such as size, color, shape, or other graphical characteristics, which represent one or more aspects or characteristics of an entity, relationship, or behavioral pattern. A more detailed description of specific examples of indicia is provided below in the detailed description of the invention. Next, a representation of selected objects is arranged on a display, and the indicia is mapped to the arranged objects. In such a manner, the high-dimensional behavior aspect of the navigation data is efficiently and concisely presented in relation to the objects.
In one embodiment, a display presents an arrangement of objects representing web pages and links for a web site. The method collects data regarding a visitor""s navigation between web pages, and tracks how long the visitor remains on each page. A relationship between a visitor and a web page is developed, for example, when the visitor requests or views the web page. The duration that the visitor remains at the web page can be considered an attribute of the relationship. Relationship data is aggregated to determine specific behavior for the visitor. Preferably, the behavior can be related to an individual visitor, a group of visitors, a cluster of visitors, or a summary of all visitors. Depending on the behavior or behavior comparison being made, an indicia indicative of the behavior is selected and mapped onto the arrangement of web pages. For example, the indicia can be a symbol which represents the number of visitors that made an online purchase. By mapping this indicia on each web page visited by such visitors, a web site operator can discern which web pages are effective and which are not.
In another embodiment, the method for representing high-dimensional information efficiently and concisely provides complex high-dimensional information in a familiar and comfortable format. Accordingly, complex high-dimensional transaction behaviors are presented in a manner that can be readily perceived. Although the method is applicable to a wide range of transactions, the method is particularly useful for understanding how visitors behave in a web site. The web site operator, for example, is thereby enabled to quickly identify behaviors and trends, and make comparisons that facilitate understanding how visitors or aggregated visitors are navigating a web site. Armed with such information, the web site operator is enabled to make web modifications to more efficiently convert web site visitors into web site customers that actually purchase goods or services. In a similar manner, the web site operator can modify the web site to more efficiently direct visitors to visit key pages.
In a further embodiment, the invention provides a method and system for efficiently and conveniently displaying high dimensional information related to how effectively a web site is attracting visitors, presenting information to those visitors, and converting the visitors into customers. In particular, the method provides a powerful and flexible presentation of the behavior that a visitor or a group of visitors exhibit while navigating a web site. Using such visitor behavior, a web site or an advertising campaign may be modified to more effectively attract, educate, and sell to visitors.
In a further embodiment, the method uses a node link diagram of selected web pages as a template or background on a display. High dimensional information is calculated or derived from data collected on visitors"" navigation of the web site. For example, data may be collected regarding which pages each visitor requests, and may track how long each visitor remains on each page. Using this navigational data, the method calculates high dimensional information such as group behavior or behavior trends. The method maps selected high dimensional information onto the web page template to illuminate visitor behavior. Also, the method enables sophisticated comparisons between the behavior of collections of visitors and comparisons of behavior in different time periods. In a particular embodiment, the method permits animation of the high dimensional data to illustrate behavior as a function of time.
In another embodiment, the method displays sophisticated high dimensional information in a format enabling a web site operator to efficiently understand how visitors behave and react to modifications or other events. Such a complete and powerful presentation method is not provided by any known conventional data presentation method.